Irondequoit to vote on housing development

The town of Irondequoit will vote Tuesday on whether to walk away from a senior housing development on Titus Avenue in the face of opposition by neighbors.

The project, a three-story building called Legacy at Pinewood Park between Larkspur and Willow Creek lanes, has been in the works for years with developer Mark IV Enterprises. All sides agree the aging suburb needs more senior housing and two recent town-sponsored studies were supposed to assuage concerns about parking, traffic, environmental concerns and use of zoning variances.

Irondequoit, however, rarely lets development through so easily. Neighbors claim the 100-bed building would snarl traffic, flood their properties and irrevocably change the character of the area.

The town is involved because the project would need a variance to proceed. Town code dictates that senior housing cannot be built on less than five acres, and the Legacy site isn't that large.

The town planning board decided in January to study the entire senior housing zoning ordinance — already a significant delay for Legacy — but Supervisor Mary Joyce D'Aurizio said last week the town will simply dismiss the project instead, noting a lack of political incentive to go forward.

"We just don't have the time to examine that," she said. "Yes, we do need more senior housing in this town, but there are too many variables against it. ... We listen to the residents, and they spoke clearly."

Mark IV President Chris DiMarzo responded angrily, calling D'Aurizio's position "cowardly" and suggesting the Town Board is trying to avoid upsetting voters before the contested November election.

"Caving to a vocal minority of activists who are selective in their opposition and lie and fabricate misleading information, the board exposes itself to federal criminal claims of age discrimination," he wrote in an email. "I am disappointed that the leadership of Irondequoit has succumbed to the intimidating NIMBYs bent and determined to ruin their town."

Mark IV sued the town once before after an earlier version of the development was scuttled in 2003, but that lawsuit was unsuccessful.

The Town Board still must vote on whether to abandon the plan at its meeting Tuesday.